Color of 1930s-40s dress shirts?

[BowlofRice]

Hi all, I'm just wondering if any other colors of dress shirts were used in the 1930's to 1940's other than white, which is the only color I remember seeing in period movies, catalogues, and pictures. That's why I can only wear my 1930s look to school when my 3 white shirts are still clean, otherwise I would just have to dress up as something resembling a 1980's or 90's businessman, because I think in that era non-white dress shirts are ok. So, if anyone could tell me more about 1930's to 1940's dress shirt colors, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[kpreed]

I have a few catalogs from the 30s and 40s and dress shirts come in many colors other then white. Many shirts with stripes too.
Just my 2¢.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Yes indeed, I have a few cream colored shirts, one that is a soft pink with blue stripes and one that is a very light blue. I can understand it may be hard to find shirts like this, and such is why when I was able to obtain these shirts, I did.

 

[dhermann1]

Pretty much the same palette as we have today, but maybe a wee bit richer.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Hi all, I'm just wondering if any other colors of dress shirts were used in the 1930's to 1940's other than white, which is the only color I remember seeing in period movies, catalogues, and pictures. That's why I can only wear my 1930s look to school when my 3 white shirts are still clean, otherwise I would just have to dress up as something resembling a 1980's or 90's businessman, because I think in that era non-white dress shirts are ok. So, if anyone could tell me more about 1930's to 1940's dress shirt colors, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

All of these shirt ad images are from the 1930s:

 

[Stearmen]

Pilots & Dark Shirts

A photo of Paul Mantz, Amelia Earhart, and Fred Noonan in Hawaii during the ilfatted first round the world attempt. Both Mantz and Noonan are wearing dark shirts. Mantz was well known for his good sense of style, he was a Hollywood stunt pilot after all!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Note the pattern variations above, too.

The British perspective from a 1938 Simpson Piccadilly catalogue in the Ben Stephens collection.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Nice. The spread collar on the left looks pretty modern.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

yep, there's nothing new in menswear!

bk

 

[Tomasso]

I was watching a 30s flick the other night and in one scene there was just about every collar style represented.

 

[thunderw21]

The Golden Era, I believe, was a much more colorful time when it comes to menswear.

 

[Qirrel]

Rather than the "golden era" being especially colourful, I would say that todays clothing is generally less colourful than earlier periods. It is all about barely distinguishable patterns and subdued colours, in a kind of -"I dress well, but don't want too look like I'm having fun doing it-" way. On the other hand, trousers in vibrant colours seem to be all the rage among the young, hip crowd over here in Norway.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Like Heinz and their multitude of soups, I think Van Heusen used to offer over 50 collar styles. (I may be mistaken about the exact number, but there were A LOT of styles offered by Van Heusen. There are ads out there where they give the number.

bk

I was watching a 30s flick the other night and in one scene there was just about every collar style represented.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Like Heinz and their multitude of soups, I think Van Heusen used to offer over 50 collar styles.

The early 1900s were the 'golden era' of collar styles (as were the '30s-'40s for shoe styles). Collar makers took into account the variety of facial dimensions, neck dimensions, and head shapes among men, and urged retailers to "match the right (i.e., most flattering) collar model to each customer".


In a similar vein, a dizzying variety of shoe shapes was offered by Florsheim (and other big manufacturers) to the public in the '30s and '40s. Lace-up captoe oxfords could be had with high, medium or low vamps; rounded, squared, keystone, or semi-pointy toe boxes; oval, spade, or straight soles; snug or wide ankle boxes; and more. Again, retailers were encouraged to "match a customer's foot to the shoe shape most appropriate (i.e., comfortable and flattering) to it."

 

[BowlofRice]

Wow, where does everyone get these photos...? Anyways, so you folks are telling me it's okay to use my 1930's ensemble with a non-white dress shirt?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Wow, where does everyone get these photos...?

Where? From bound 1930s issues of Esquire magazine, mostly. Find them at your local (big) university library.

Anyways, so you folks are telling me it's okay to use my 1930s ensemble with a non-white dress shirt?

:eusa_doh:

 

[Feraud]

Leading horses to water..

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

It is a common mistake...maybe because of the black and white pictures. But even there you could see pattern or darker shades. I am just glad we have ads in full color.

You can browse "LIFE magazine" from the 30s for free on google books.

This picture is from 1938

 

[Edward]

Even today looking to Hollywood is not going to give you an idea of reality on any level, in most cases. Fashion, how people talk, and (especially) nightclubs, Hollywood still gets screamingly wrong most of the time. Then it's not intended to be reality, but rather escapist entertainment for the most part. In the B&W era, looks are even less representative of reality. Then they had to contend with the fact that what looked good in colour might not look good in B&W. Many of those screen goddesses of the Thirties and Forties were wearing blue lipstick on screen; colours of outfits that looked great in B&W often clashed hideously (how I wish we had colour shots of some of those!) in reality. I suspect that a lot of greys and blacks would actually be shades of brown, for example.

 

[Widebrim]

Even today looking to Hollywood is not going to give you an idea of reality on any level, in most cases. Fashion, how people talk, and (especially) nightclubs, Hollywood still gets screamingly wrong most of the time. Then it's not intended to be reality, but rather escapist entertainment for the most part. In the B&W era, looks are even less representative of reality. Then they had to contend with the fact that what looked good in colour might not look good in B&W. Many of those screen goddesses of the Thirties and Forties were wearing blue lipstick on screen; colours of outfits that looked great in B&W often clashed hideously (how I wish we had colour shots of some of those!) in reality. I suspect that a lot of greys and blacks would actually be shades of brown, for example.

So true. Heck, even George Reeves wore a brown costume in the black and white TV episodes of Superman...